NJPW Anniversary Event Review

NJPW Anniversary Event
March 6th, 2018 | Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 3,864
New Japan celebrates their anniversary with this event. Last year, we had some cool moments like TenKoji winning the Tag Titles, a great Hiromu/Taguchi match, and Tiger Mask W against Kazuchika Okada. This year’s show looks significantly worse on paper, with Tetsuya Naito working Taichi and a main event featuring two of my least favorite wrestlers in NJPW. But, I’m always up to be surprised, so let’s see if this show delivers.

Katsuya Kitamura was supposed to finish his trial series today, but was pulled from the show due to a concussion.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Tiger Mask IV vs. Ren Narita, Tetsuhiro Yagi, Tomoyuki Oka, Shota Umino, and Yuji Nagata
Nagata is partaking in “bring your kids to work’ day. His Young Lions jumped their opponents before the bell, trying to get the upper hand since they know they’re in serious trouble. Once it calmed down into something more traditional, we got your usual New Japan opener. Everyone got some shine. The highlights were Tenzan and Nagata going at it, as well as KUSHIDA’s run. He was in his hometown and the crowd was hot for him. I liked he and Oka putting KUSHIDA and Taguchi into stereo submissions. KUSHIDA got left alone with Umino, who he made tap to the Hoverboard Lock in 7:31. As I said, it was your typical opener. Fine action, the lions worked hard, and mostly everyone got showcased. [**½]

David Finlay, Juice Robinson, and Toa Henare vs. NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, and Toru Yano
You know, as much as I want to see Juice and Finlay as a team, I’d be all for Juice dethroning Goto. Speaking of Juice, he sported some new gear tonight. Henare continued to bring it to Ishii, as he has on recent shows. He’s like a bigger Hirai Kawato in how he refuses to show fear. Finlay ended up playing the face in peril role, before making the hot tag to Juice. The fans have really grown to like him. His run included him hitting all three CHAOS guys with his trademark punches. Henare got tagged again and Yano was wise enough to tie up Juice, allowing Goto to beat Henare with the GTR at 7:41. A good little six-man tag. Henare/Ishii continues to be fun, while Juice and Finlay always bring energy. I hope we get Ishii/Juice in the New Japan Cup. [**¾]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Roppongi 3K [c] w/ Rocky Romero vs. BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
I hope they’re saving LIDJ/RPG 3K for a bigger show. It’s far and away the best potential matchup and it ruled in the tournament last year. Anyway, at least Desperado is here. He, Sabre, and Suzuki are the saving graces of Suzuki-Gun. SHO got beaten by up the two sets of challengers. They’ve really been booked to mostly get their asses kicked. It’s strange. I get the sympathetic babyfaces, but it’s so consistent. SHO’s back was a target and he got trapped in a Boston crab for a bit. I like people using that on RPG 3K, as a nod to still seeing them as Young Lions, though they need to grow out of it soon. SHO sold it all very well. The champs rallied once YOH got the tag, leading to the next stage of the match being a step up. In the end, BUSHI’s mist got negated by Kanemaru spitting whiskey at him. Desperado rolled up the misted SHO to win the titles in 16:34. It was a good, fun match with some great exchanges down the stretch. RPG 3K continue to sell very well. However, it remains hard to care about this division. The booking is ATROCIOUS. Just merge the tag divisions so Gedo can poorly book one instead of two. [***¼]

IWGP Tag Team Champion SANADA vs. YOSHI-HASHI
I enjoyed their New Japan Cup match last year. In fact, I liked it more than SANADA’s recent Heavyweight Title shot. These guys were given a lot of time and mostly made it work. SANADA controlled most of it, showing an aggressive side to go with his incredible athletic skillset. On some nights, HASHI is very good and this was one of them. He brought a lot of babyface fire in his comebacks, and got the crowd behind him. That’s a tough task considering how popular SANADA is. When SANADA got trapped in the Butterfly Lock, he looked completely out of it, but rallied to reach the ropes and survive. He countered Karma into Skull End and looked to have it won, only to let go. Never fear, as it was just to go up top and connect on the moonsault, getting the win in 17:38. Another good match, with some strong performances by both guys. HASHI got the crowd behind him, while SANADA continued to show promise. [***]

Taichi vs. Tetsuya Naito
This kind of booking would get RIPPED apart if this were WWE. The guy who should’ve won the top title over “the guy” has fallen and ended up wasting time against the worst of the worst. However, Naito proved why he’s a top three wrestler on the planet. He got a high quality match out of Taichi here. Taichi jumped Naito and powerbombed him on the stage. That allowed him to work a heat segment that made sense, without making Naito look bad. Thankfully, Taichi didn’t play the cowardly heel too much. He still brought heel tactics, but it wasn’t done in the annoying fashion of his Jr. matches. Naito had to resort to his own rule breaking style to turn the tide. That included breaking the microphone stand over Taichi’s head, followed by Destino that finished this in 14:07. I ended up enjoying that way more than expected. Naito got the best out of Taichi and it made for an interesting match. I appreciated the effort and how smartly this was laid out. [***¼]

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Minoru Suzuki [c] vs. Togi Makabe
When you get these two together, you can expect a hard hitting match. And yes, that’s exactly how they came out of the blocks. They traded bombs for most of the match. As Minoru moved to using a chair, Red Shoes was tough enough to stand in front of him and stop the assault. Like he did against Tanahashi, Minoru’s focus was the knee of his opponent. Makabe combated it with his power, though once the knee became damaged, he couldn’t do it as much. He fought from behind and showed more heart and effort than we typically get from him. He went for broke and came up short, missing the King Kong Knee Drop. From there, it was Suzuki’s dominance. Makabe had fight left in him and survived a bit, but ultimately fell to the Gotch Piledriver in 19:04. Another match I liked more than I thought I would. They worked to their strengths, told a fine story, and left the Suzuki-Gun shenanigans to the side. Minoru as IC Champ has already been loads better than his NEVER Title run. [***½]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay
They ran a similar back in 2012 when Heavyweight Champion Okada (yea, he’s basically always champ) faced Jr. Champ Kota Ibushi. This is quite the drop off. They showed respect to one another before the match, being stablemates and all. Okada came in with a plan, going after the leg to neutralize Ospreay’s high flying offense. Early on, Ospreay showed that he can do more than flip around the ring when he wants to. Unfortunately, the match turned into the basic Okada formula we’ve come to expect. It doesn’t make for a bad match, just one that isn’t very exciting. Okada dominated at times, with Will only getting in a few small hope spots. Of course, Okada held on for the Rainmaker, it got countered a few times, he ended up hitting, etc. You know the drill. Eventually, one of them was enough to keep Ospreay down after 25:25. As I said, this was a fine wrestling match. It just had nothing about it to make it special. It felt like just another match. Like one you’d get from Okada in the middle of the G1. I was hoping they’d bring more, all things considered, but they didn’t. [***]

Overall: 6.5/10. A solid show from NJPW, just one that didn’t feature a standout match. Taichi/Naito and the IC Title match were nice surprises, while Ospreay/Okada lacked. The Jr. Tag Title match was also good, though the title change was pointless and dumb, as usual. Nothing on the show is bad and cutting out all the usual Suzuki-Gun nonsense we were hammered with last year has helped make sure shows this year don’t have that standout bad match or two. However, NJPW has felt very lackluster in 2018. It hasn’t been bad, but I’m waiting to be blown away and I haven’t outside of two or three matches. Hopefully, things pick up heading into Sakura Genesis and beyond.

NXT Cleveland Report

It's that time of the year again. My seventh NXT show in Ohio. I went to Columbus twice in 2015 and this was my fifth time in Cleveland (two in 2015, one year after). At a brisk 34 degrees, this was BY FAR the best weather we've had while waiting in line to get into the show. The seating at the Agora Theatre is first come, first serve, so we try to get there early. We didn't exactly get front row this time, but we managed seats right by the entrance. I got to see behind the curtain and spotted Jason Albert, Serena Deeb, and several wrestlers warming up.

The opening contest was Heavy Machinery against Cezar Bononi and Adrian Jaoude. The latter are both from Brazil. I don't think I've ever cared less about a live NXT match. Heavy Machinery are on the bottom of the list of people I enjoy on the roster. Otis Dozovic was surprisingly over and got even more cheers when he busted out a cartwheel. Heavy Machinery won with their finisher on Bononi in like, five minutes. They kept it short.

Up next was Dakota Kai vs. Shayna Baszler. I absolutely love Dakota and it was great to see her live for the first time. I got a high five and a Twitter shoutout for calling her the BIG DOG on her way out. Shayna is incredibly intimidating live. She pretty much murdered Dakota, though Dakota still got several good hope spots in. Shayna hit a knee that I swear knocked her out at one point. Even the security guard next to me was surprised at how vicious it looked. Shayna won and Dakota got a standing ovation. Great match and Shayna won me over here.

Lars Sullivan vs. Kassius Ohno followed. This was fine, but not as good as their TakeOver match. Ohno nearly got hurt when Lars tried a popup powerslam that he barely connected on. Lars is freakishly huge. He won with the Freak Accident and, on his way out, asked, "WHO'S THE MAN, CINCINNATI?" Even though we were in Cleveland.

Adam Cole took on Chris Dijak next. Oh baby, it's ROH 2014. Adam Cole was the most over person on the show to this point. I got a video of the crowd doing the BAYBAY chant with him. This was a fun little match. Cole had the crowd in the palm of his hands. Dijak impressed and sold the hell out of a Cole superkick. Cole used that and a knee to the head to win. Good stuff.

To close the first half, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish took on the Street Profits. Fish and O'Reilly had their own version of the Undisputed Era theme and it was total garbage. It sounded awful. At the last minute, the ref got word from William Regal to make it a Tag Title match. Up to this point, it was the second best match behind Dakota/Shayna. Fish and Ford had great banter as they talked trash throughout. The early portions were literally built around a series of headlocks and they made it very entertaining. Ford busted out a cool dive in front of us down the stretch. The champs retained via a Fish rollup. Both teams are really fun live and I'd dig this as a Tag Title match.

During intermission, Lacey Evans got a promo on the screen to talk down about Cleveland. She kicked off the post-intermission stuff against Kairi Sane. Kairi is tiny and adorable. Even after bashing Cleveland, Evans got no response. She has some of the heel mannerisms down and had a funny spot on the top rope where she fell trying to mock Kairi's elbow, but she clearly needs a ton of work in the ring. She slowed this down a lot. It was the worst match of the night, though Kairi tried her best. She won with her awesome elbow.

The semi-main event was Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream. They both got promos on the tron earlier in the night. Dream's ended with a shot of his bare feet for about 10 seconds for reasons I don't know. Anyway, Dream surpassed Cole and everyone else as the most over guy so far. Black was a close second. The fans on the opposite side of the ring were apparently hampered by the lights in the arena, so they spent the first few minutes chanting for the arena to shut them off. Black and Dream started slow, probably to weather this storm. Once the lights got fixed, they picked up the pace and the match turned out to be great. The final stretch was a lot of fun and Black won with Black Mass.

The main event saw Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega against Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae. Almas and Zelina came out first. Zelina is crazy small. Like, ridiculously tiny. They tried cutting a pre-match promo, but couldn't because there was a legitimate 6-7 minute "Johnny Wrestling" chant. It went uninterrupted and was one of the wildest things I've experienced live. Once he and Candice came out, the place went nuts. The match was a ton of fun. They kept cutting off the hot tag to Candice and it was very well done. Johnny and Candice got to hit stereo dives. There were so many good spots. Candice and Johnny won when they used stereo Gargano Escapes, with Zelina tapping. After the match, Johnny spent a few minutes saying goodbye to the fans and telling his hometown how much he appreciated them. His family, trainer, and friends were all in attendance and also got cheers. Johnny made a joke that the people in the back were probably annoyed that he took so much time up at the end, but he didn't work there anymore, so it was all good. Candice reminded him that she still has to work here, which got a laugh.

All in all, another very fun event. They run less than three hours and everything flies by. The best matches, in order, were the main event, Black/Drean, and Dakota/Shayna, with the Tag Titles fourth. Most over were Johnny & Candice, Dream, Black, and Cole. I got a bunch of pictures and several cool moments with a few wrestlers.

You can find the pictures and videos that aren't in this post on my Instagram: @the_kevstaaa

WWE Elimination Chamber Review

WWE Elimination Chamber
February 25th, 2018 | T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada | Attendance: 15,126

Most of WWE has been excellent in 2018. Other than Smackdown, the weekly shows are usually giving us high quality wrestling and some strong storytelling. Raw was on a roll heading into this Pay-Per-View. Could they keep it up or live up to the great Royal Rumble PPV?

Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel vs. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
Recently, we’ve been treated to high quality Kickoff matches. This felt more like the days of King Barrett vs. R-Truth. This was a fine television style match and nothing more. Anderson took a short heat segment, before Gallows got to run a bit wild. A Magic Killer on Axel scored the win for the Good Brothers in 8:49. Like I said, this was fine, but totally forgettable and basic. [**]

WWE Raw Women’s Championship Elimination Chamber: Alexa Bliss [c] vs. Bayley vs. Mandy Rose vs. Mickie James vs. Sasha Banks vs. Sonya Deville
This had potential to shit the bed or be really good. Thankfully, it was the latter. Bayley started against Sonya Deville and they had a fine exchange. Mandy joined next and the Absolution girls teamed up on Bayley for what was easily the dullest part of the match. It only lasted a few minutes, but dragged on since Sonya and Mandy aren’t that good just yet. Sasha came in to even the odds and the match really gained momentum. Absolution against Bayley and Sasha proved to be one hell of a battle. Mickie entered next and had a strong run. It eventually came down to Alexa against Bayley and Sasha. Alexa ran from them and climbed the Chamber, which was fun. Sasha turned on Bayley, of course, kicked her off a pod like this was the Lion King or something. Bayley got rolled up in a slightly awkward moment, leaving it to Sasha and Alexa. Alexa busted out Twisted Bliss off a pod, that Sasha countered into the Bank Statement, which also didn’t come off too smoothly. Alexa weathered the storm and won with a hanging DDT in 29:38. A great match with some very good moments sprinkled in throughout. All the ladies worked hard and bumped their asses off. A few things lacked at some points (the Absolution team up and the final segment between Alexa and Sasha), but this was mostly great. [***¾]

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: The Bar [c] vs. Titus Worldwide w/ Dana Brooke
I’ve enjoyed most of their TV matches. This was about as good as their last title match. There were several fun exchanges. Apollo took the heat, which made sense as he’s more sympathetic than Titus. However, the crowd still hasn’t been given quite enough reason to get behind the group, so they weren’t as into the babyface stuff as you’d want. Titus had a fine hot tag, though it was nothing special. The Bar put Apollo away with a tandem White Noise after 11:41. Very enjoyable tag team wrestling, highlighted by the Bar being their consistent selves, and by Apollo having one of his better PPV performances. [***]
Asuka vs. Nia Jax
If Nia won, she’d join the WrestleMania Raw Women’s Title match. There’s not much interest in this, as we’ve seen it a bunch in NXT and even on TV recently. The concern of, “Can Nia be the one to beat Asuka?” wasn’t there. I will give them props for the shot of Nia stepping on Asuka’s mask before the match. That was cool. Anyway, the match was similar to their prior matches, though not on the level of the TakeOver or Osaka bouts. They did play off the finish of those, which was nice. Asuka rolled through a pin to remain unbeaten at 8:10, before Nia attacked her after the match. It was fine pro wrestling that played to what works for both characters, it just lacked anything to really make it even a little exciting. [**¾]

Bray Wyatt vs. Matt Hardy
Like Asuka/Nia and Titus Worldwide/The Bar, we also got this on television in 2018. Bray basically squashed Matt on Raw 25. That, coupled with the terrible segments between the two, made for one of the most unappealing matches in recent memory. That happens a lot with Bray, huh? Anyway, this felt like more television filler. There was little life or energy behind anything, and the crowd cared about everything but the stuff going in the ring. Matt got the win with the Twist of Fate in 10:10 and we can all just move on with our lives. The definition of a “nothing” match. [½*]

Ronda Rousey came out to sign her contract next, complete with Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon in the ring. The segment moved along relatively fine, though Ronda is clearly still not comfortable on the microphone. She didn’t talk for a long time, but I still cringed a bit. Once Kurt Angle opened his mouth, the segment was saved. He hilariously confessed that HHH and Stephanie were still unhappy with Ronda for WrestleMania 31 (between this and what we find out was the Universal Title match, might as well call this year’s Mania WrestleMania 31: The Sequel) and they wanted to control her. With Ronda no longer talking, the segment took off. She put HHH through a table with a great looking spinebuster. Stephanie did slap her, but Ronda just gave her a look and she went running. Ronda signed the contract, setting up some kind of mixed tag at Mania most likely. It started slow and Ronda could definitely use a mouthpiece, but it ended with a bang and made me interested in Ronda. Success.

Elimination Chamber: Braun Strowman vs. Elias vs. Finn Balor vs. John Cena vs. The Miz vs. Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins
A seven-man Chamber should be wild. I was so happy that Finn, Seth, and Miz started. Their match on Raw in 2017 was the most underrated of the year. They started the match hot, making for some great moments. Things really picked up once Braun entered. He got most of the highlights and literally eliminated everyone until it came down to himself and Roman Reigns. I have to point out that the best spot was Braun launching Miz off a pod onto everyone below. Braun kicked out of EVERYTHING, surviving so much until the end. When it came down to him vs. Roman, it was good, but not on the level of their great encounters last year. Reigns hit him with everything in his power to pull out the expected win after 40:11. I did like how Finn and Seth lasted a long time (they were the last two eliminated before Braun) and got so much time in the match. They clearly weren’t afterthoughts. Watching live, I reacted to a lot of my friends were popping for, but missed a few things. I re-watched on my own this morning and liked it a fair amount less. It wasn’t as chaotic as you’d expect from something involving so many people and the final encounter wasn’t that great. It’s a very good chamber, just not the standout one I wanted, especially after the excellent gauntlet match on Raw. [***½]

Overall: 6.5/10. Raw has been a very good show so far in 2018. However, their exclusive PPV performed like most of their others since the brand split. It was above average and nothing more. The two chambers were very good and certainly the highlights, but the rest of the card felt like filler. Even with Asuka/Nia being solid and the Tag Title match being good, they didn’t really feel special. Other than the Chambers, it felt like an episode of TV. The same goes for the Ronda segment, even though it was good.

Elimination Chamber Predictions

I honestly don't think much is going to come of this. Part of me expected someone to interrupt, but I get the sense they might save that for one of Ronda Rousey's Raw appearances. At most, I could see a lower card woman interrupting and getting wrecked, but even that is doubtful to me.

This feud has been a disaster. It's just been two guys talking in circles and doing nothing to make me want to see the match. Plus, Bray already basically squashed Matt in a few minutes at Raw 25. I'm gonna say Bray wins here to gain some momentum before doing a lot of nothing at WrestleMania. Maybe he'll be a battle royal favorite.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

I feel like we've seen this match a bunch in recent weeks. Luckily, their last match for the titles was actually quite good. I can't imagine The Bar dropping the titles to Titus Worldwide, but I'm expecting a fun little match. I'd be okay with a title chance, as Apollo and Titus have been very entertaining in recent months. However, I've got The Bar going into Mania with the titles.

Winners: The Bar

Nobody would be dumb enough to waste Asuka's years of build on a loss to Nia Jax at Elimination Chamber, right? I mean, it's even worse than building up Charlotte's Pay-Per-View streak, only to lose in unceremonious fashion at Fastlane last year. Since there's no talk of a pin or submission, some believe Nia wins via DQ or countout, but that seems shitty to me. Asuka for the win.

Winner: Asuka

Like the women's Money in the Bank and Royal Rumble, this could either be a good first outing or a disaster. For the most part, MITB succeeded (even with the dumb booking after) and the Rumble was great. This one is tougher, as it's a tricky match to book, especially with unproven entities like Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. At this point, not having Alexa as champion going into Mania would be dumb, but I'm thinking Sasha pulls this out.

Winner: Sasha Banks

Come on. We've known this for a year. To be fair, I'm not complaining. I think Roman Reigns is a great choice for champion, as he's constantly putting on good to great matches. It's better than his 2015-2016 push, because he's not the focal point of TV the way he was back then. It should come down to Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns, with Reigns getting a win back over Braun for the first time in about a a year.

Winner: Braun Strowman

2018 Prediction Record: 9-2
2017 Prediction Record: 81-37
2016 Prediction Record: 72-41
2015 Prediction Record: 60-35

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising Night Two Review

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising Night Two
February 24th | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,714
After a lackluster opening night, Honor Rising returns for the sequel. Let’s hope things turn around here.

The Beer City Bruiser vs. Toa Henare
A night after a surprising match with Hirooki Goto, Bruiser was out for a fight. He demanded that Henare fight him, because he didn’t feel like wrestling. That made for a match full of clubbing shots and a bit of brawling. Henare came close with a flying shoulder block. In a finish I didn’t expect, it was Beer City Bruiser going up top and winning with a frog splash in 4:25. It was short and something you’d expect to see on ROH TV or something. Maybe it was taped for that. Fine way to get Bruiser back on track after a loss. [**]
Chase Owens, HIKUELO, and Yujiro Takahashi vs. David Finlay, Jay Lethal, and Juice Robinson
Lethal made the trip to Japan for two multi-man tags. His star has fallen. Owens is in an odd place, not sure which side of the Bullet Club war he’s on. The heels pulled a Suzuki-Gun and attacked before the bell. As the match got back to the ring, Finlay took the heat. That included Owens mocking Juice’s trademark punches. Jay came in and nailed his tope series. HIKUELO’s size was a problem, but a barrage of offense put him down, capped by a Lethal elbow in 6:35. Some fun action in this one, with the babyface team showing a lot of fire. I wish we got more Juice, though. [**¼]

BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi vs. Flip Gordon and Ryusuke Taguchi
It’s a damn shame BUSHI and Hiromu aren’t saving the Jr. tag division right now. Like the three way from night one, there was a lot of fast paced stuff here. If Gordon’s one thing, he’s athletic. His showboating cost him, as LIDJ took over. He took the heat segment for a bit. Taguchi came in with ass attacks and eventually worked the tag back to Gordon, so he could be all flippy. The crowd got behind him as he busted out a tope. He and Hiromu had some good back and forth towards the end, but got left alone with both opponents. Gordon escaped the Time Bomb, only to fall to a cool Doomsday MX at 10:17. LIDJ delivers again. Gordon’s not my cup of tea, but he’s more enjoyable in tags where he’s not the focal point. The combination of BUSHI and Hiromu is tremendous. [***]

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship: Bad Luck Fale and The Guerrillas of Destiny [c] vs. Cheeseburger, Delirious, and Jushin Thunder Liger
In a great little moment, Cheeseburger stood in front of the ring announcer to save him from a Fale attack. That set off a brawl to start the match. That ended up leading to Liger taking the heat for his team. It’s best because he’s the best and most sympathetic member of his trio. Delirious got the tag and did his usual stuff. When Cheeseburger came in, you couldn’t help but enjoy it. The throws his tiny frame into everything and gives it his all. He found ways to get in his offense. Though he fought valiantly, Cheeseburger got planted with Guerrilla Warfare for the loss in 9:16. Fine title defense. The outcome was never in doubt, but the face team was fun enough to make it worthwhile. [**¼]

Chuck Taylor, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jay White, and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hangman Page and The Young Bucks
I want YOSHI to fill in the Beretta role. Totally be Chuckie’s best friend. It was interesting to see how much the Bucks distanced themselves from Hangman. They’re still Bullet Club, but Page has firmly sided with Cody, while the Bucks are on the fence. We got some preview of the eventual Page/White match. The Bucks also did most of their signature stuff, which the crowd ate up. Tacos got the hot tag treatment, though his run wasn’t that great. Chuckie got a slightly hotter tag and did better with it. In the end, it came down to Page and White. Page got the big pinfall on White after the Rite of Passage in 12:35. Kind of a surprising result, but this is the ceiling for Hangman. There’s no way he wins the title, so this is his big moment. It’ll set up their title match. This tag was pretty fun and continued the stories it had to. [**¾]

Post-match, Page got a chair and went to attack White. The Young Bucks stopped him, which confused and annoyed Don Callis. However, as soon as they left, Page planted White with a second Rite of Passage on the chair.

ROH World Championship: Dalton Castle [c] vs. Beretta vs. The Beer City Bruiser
Some Young Lions played Dalton’s boys tonight. The Beer City Bruiser came out and said he was in this match, too. So, he just got added. I wish I had that kind of authority. Jay Lethal, who gets an ROH Title shot at the 16th Anniversary Show, joined commentary. To be fair, Beretta was working hurt, so Bruiser might’ve been added to help. It also worked out, because Beretta is best as a plucky underdog face, which might not have worked against fellow face Dalton. The Bruiser added the element of a big guy to throw him around. He dominated at times and caused the faces to work together to combat it. Everyone got some pretty good near falls in. Castle won with a great looking deadlift German on the Bruiser in 16:00. As I said, adding Bruiser allowed the faces to work from behind, which was good. I still never believed the title would change hands and none of the near falls made me buy into it. Still, a good match. [***]

Cody and Marty Scurll vs. The Golden Lovers
I don’t know if I somehow overlooked it yesterday, but Marty’s hair is dyed white now. He confronted Kenny before the match, saying he hadn’t picked sides, but Kenny left him behind and obviously picked Kota. Marty and Kota opened by fighting for Kenny’s love. Cody ran from Kenny early, leading to a great spot where Kenny dove into the crowd to take him out. The Golden Lovers had their hot start cut off when they tried the Cross Slash (stereo Triangle Moonsaults), giving the Bullet Club the upper hand. Kota took the heat, with Kenny continually kept away. Kenny’s hot tag was great and sent the match into the next gear. He saved Cody from a Cross Rhodes off the apron with a V-Trigger. The finishing stretch was pretty wild and saw Cody kiss Ibushi. That fired up Ibushi to hit a series of slaps and a powerbomb. Scurll was left to fall to the Golden Trigger in 20:15. Great main event that was better than last night’s The Golden Lovers clearly have top notch chemistry. Their excellent stuff in the ring was matched by the charisma and character work of their opponents. [***¾]

After the match, Ibushi and Omega closed things out. Omega said this was one of the best weekends of his life and that he wants to become the best tag team in the world in 2018. That brought out the Young Bucks, who constantly make that same claim (even though the best tag team isn’t even in this company). They said they’re heavyweights now and that they’d see the Golden Lovers soon.

Overall: 6.5/10. An improvement on night one. The main event was a total blast as the Golden Lovers have become must see already. There are a few good matches on the show, with nothing being outright bad, making for another solid outing. The short runtime helped things along again.

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising Night One Review

NJPW/ROH Honor Rising Night One
February 23rd, 2018 | Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 1,700

Honor Rising has become an annual tradition over the past few years. With ROH’s roster growing considerably weaker over the past two years, the cards have waned in terms of interest. Still, there’s a major Bullet Club angle going on that gives some intrigue to these events.

Kevin Kelly and Don Callis were on commentary.

Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Katsuya Kitamura and Toa Henare
Boy. Is ROH’s roster so bad and thin that they couldn’t even fill out the card? This is an all-NJPW match and really hammers home the thinness of the ROH roster. Kitamura was the highlight here, using his power like a beast. Watching him match up and even toss around Bad Luck Fale was quite the sight. That rarely happens. He took most of the heat, before the more established Henare got some shine. Kitamura got left alone with Fale in the end. Though he was strong enough to work him over at points, Fale hit a lariat and the Grenade for the win in 7:20. Decent opener, highlighted by Kitamura. Without him and his interactions with Fale, this would’ve been rough. [**¼]

Cheeseburger, Delirious, and Jushin Thunder Liger vs. HIKULEO and The Guerrillas of Destiny
The babyface team has a NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title shot on night two, so this is exactly the same match, except HIKULEO will be Fale. HIKUELO is an interesting booking case. He must lose like all the other young lions, but he’s so big, it takes a lot. Delirious pulled his usual antics, Liger was Liger, and Cheeseburger was loved by the crowd. Haku’s kids work fine together, but it’s nothing to write home about. After a barrage of offense on HIKULEO, Cheeseburger used Shotei to beat him in 7:08. Perfectly acceptable multi-man match and nothing more. [**]

David Finlay and Juice Robinson vs. The Young Bucks
Commentary brought up the Bucks possibly moving to the heavyweight division. Ah, so it’s time for that annual rumor. I really dig the Juice/Finlay pairing. If they’re not going to push Juice towards a singles title, I’d give them a push as a team. Juice/Finlay vs. EVIL/SANADA sounds rad. The Bucks have been less grating than usual this year and their string of good matches continued here. This played like a greatest hits of sorts for them, as they got in their usual stuff. The key here was the chemistry between Finlay and Juice, who looked great. The Bucks won via Meltzer Driver in 12:51. This was a good match. With more time and an angle, it could’ve been better. [***]

Flip Gordon vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. KUSHIDA
From the few ROH fans I still know of, I’ve heard good things about Flip Gordon. I don’t get it. He showed off his athleticism and got a lot of shine in this match, but what made it work was the interactions between KUSHIDA and Hiromu. Those guys are EASILY the best two junior heavyweights in the world and they proved it again here. Every moment between them was worth checking out and Flip felt more like a distraction or hindrance. Of course, he went on to win with a 450 splash in 12:48, most likely to set him up for some sort of BOTSJ run later this year. He’s a fine flippy guy, there’s just nothing special about him. [***¼]

Best Friends and IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jay White vs. ROH World Champion Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, and Ryusuke Taguchi
On a show with almost no LIDJ, no Kazuchika Okada, no Hiroshi Tanahashi, etc., the ROH World Champion is a midcarder. Yikes. Anyway, this was a preview of the Beretta/Castle ROH Title match tomorrow. Without his Boys, Castle was a bit less animated than usual. Taguchi was up to some of his fun tricks. Lethal really seems like he’s going through the motions for the past few years. Chuckie and Beretta were fun together. They’re not my favorite team, but anything is a positive addition to this tag division at this point. Interestingly, White was the focus and not tomorrow’s ROH title match. He puts away Taguchi with Blade Runner in 9:46 for the win. A solid little tag match, continuing the trend of White getting more comfortable in his role. [**½]

NEVER Openweight Championship: Hirooki Goto [c] vs. The Beer City Bruiser
When Goto got booked against Punishment Martinez at last year’s Honor Rising, it felt like a low bar. They lowered it this year. Not that Bruiser is bad, he’s just very uninteresting. He surprisingly controlled most of this match, with Goto having to fight from behind. His selling leaves a little to be desired, so it’s a not role Goto’s great at. Anyway, though he took most of the offense, Goto made the expected rally. He won with GTR in 12:38. The amount of offense that Bruiser got in was surprising, but not a bad idea. [**¾]

Chase Owens, Kenny Omega, and Kota Ibushi vs. Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll
It looks like Owens has decided to side with Omega on this Bullet Club beef. Korakuen Hall lost their minds for the Golden Lovers. Cody spat on a fan’s sign supporting them. The action in this main event was very good, with some great moments of storytelling. There was Cody and Page being complete jerks, while Marty was still not sure how to handle things. He wrestled Omega because he had to, but mostly avoided anything like taunting him. For example, Cody and Page mocked Omega’s Terminator spot, but Scurll didn’t get involved. The match kicked into another gear when Ibushi and Omega got to work together, which was a blast. We also finally got to see Cody interact with Omega, previewing their Mania weekend match. It came down to Page and Owens, with the Rite of Passage ending Owens in 20:31. This was the best thing on the show and it delivered in terms of furthering the story, giving us just enough Golden Lovers, giving Page a win since he has a US Title shot in the near future, and being fun. [***½]

Overall: 5.5/10. Not a bad show, only slightly above average. The main event is the highlight, while the tree-way juniors match was fun because of KUSHIDA and Hiromu. The rest of the show features middle of the pack matches. It helps that this was only 2.5 hours, as too many shows go too long these days.

Top 100 Matches of 2017 #70-61

70. War Games: The Authors of Pain and Roderick Strong vs. SAnitY vs. The Undisputed Era – NXT TakeOver: War Games 11/18/17

When it was announced that War Games was coming to a WWE stage for the first time ever, there was a lot of excitement. There was also concern to see if they could pull off the magic of some of the original matches. With the three team format, no roof on the cage and the idea that two men would enter at a time after the first three opened things, it was clearly going to be different. And yet, it worked very well. War Games works as a series of hot tags. Undisputed Era got the men advantage first, which made sense as the heels. I was surprised Authors of Pain came in next to help Roderick Strong, as I thought they’d be the final big blow. Boy, was I wrong. SAnitY joined last and brought weapons into the match. That final segment of the match was ridiculous in the best possible way. I saw a man bleed buckets, creative uses of the two rings, a super German suplex through two tables and a superplex off the top of the cage onto six people in the ring. Adam Cole got the win for his guys with a shining wizard into a chair at 36:32. This didn’t feel that much like War Games, but that didn’t matter. It was violent, never felt long, had wild spots and continued the ongoing stories among the competitors. I wrote all this and still probably didn’t scratch the surface of everything they did. [****¼]

69. Number One Contender’s Match: Big R Shimizu vs. Masaaki Mochizuki – Dragon Gate Scandal Gate 9/5/17

Masaaki Mochizuki is one of Dragon Gate’s best ever. Big R Shimizu was arguably their top performer in 2017. During their annual King of Gate tournament, Shimizu beat the champion, YAMATO, in stunning fashion in under four minutes. On this night, they met for a shot at the company’s top title. This opened with Mochizuki taking out Shimizu with a springboard dropkick and the greatness didn’t stop for the 14:48 duration. Mochizuki knew that Shimizu’s Shot Put Slam was a devastating finisher, so he had a plan to attack the arm and take that move away. The arm work was great and sold even better by Shimizu. He had bursts of offense and withstood some of Mochizuki’s vicious array of kicks, but barely had use of his arm. There was a great moment when Mochizuki countered the Shot Put Slam, so Shimizu responded by hitting it with his other arm. He was unable to fully take control, opening the door for Mochizuki to continue his brutal offense. He eventually pulled back on Shimizu’s arm with a great looking submission to earn the shot at the Open the Dream Gate Championship. In contention for the best Dragon Gate match all year and certainly the company’s best singles match of 2017. [****¼]

68. RPW British Heavyweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata [c] vs. Matt Riddle – RevPro High Stakes 1/21/17

I miss Katsuyori Shibata. This was during his run as British Heavyweight Champion. He faced Matt Riddle in a battle of two bad dudes. Riddle offered a handshake that Shibata declined. Riddle had to earn his respect. This got off to a bit of a slow start as they took to the mat to get a feel for one another. Thanks to their MMA backgrounds, the chain grappling and submission attempts are fantastic. Though it’s a slow start, it’s highly entertaining. Things were turned up a notch when Riddle fired off a series of strikes. Their battle of forearms and kicks was breathtaking. Shibata sold Riddle’s stuff great, at first. Then, he fired up and dismissed Riddle’s stuff in incredible fashion. Shibata was so good at that. They graduated to even heavier blows, like suplexes. Riddle nearly shocked everyone after stealing Shibata’s sleeper and Penalty Kick. That angered Shibata, who showed him how it’s done and made Riddle tap out to his sleeper at 15:10. He got no handshake before the match, but Riddle got a show of respect from Shibata afterwards, having earned it. A terrific match that played to their strengths. [****¼]

67. New Japan Cup First Round: Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW New Japan Cup 3/12/17

Fresh off his first Wrestle Kingdom main event, Kenny Omega looked to rebound and win the New Japan Cup. A tournament win would earn him another shot at Kazuchika Okada the following month. In his way stood Tomohiro Ishii in a first time ever meeting. Omega looked to take it right to Ishii. That was a mistake, as he got rocked with strikes. A reverse rana outside put the momentum in Omega’s favor and from there, he targeted the shoulder. Things got really crazy when Ishii busted out a goddamn super rana. I didn’t even know what I was watching at that point. They just went into a barrage of great back and forth for the remainder of the match. I got a kick out of seeing Ishii pull out his own V-Trigger. There was a great spot where Ishii fought off the One Winged Angel, so Omega turned it into a massive German suplex. Ishii had the best counter for the One Winged Angel when he turned it into a stunner. He finally used a Brainbuster to win in 29:46 They continued the story of nobody kicking out of Omega’s finish, Ishii sold everything like a champ and the exchanges were wild. It didn’t need to go half an hour, though. [****¼]

66. Donovan Dijak vs. Keith Lee – PWG Battle of Los Angeles 9/3/17

Two nights prior, these guys teamed as the Monstars. Anyone who loves Space Jam can’t help but love that. I went into this after hearing tons of praise, seeing Dave Meltzer give it five stars, and knowing that they had two bangers earlier in the year in Evolve. These are big lads and they did big lad things. The early spots saw them showcase their athleticism, doing freakish things that shouldn’t be possible given their size. I’m not lying when I say that more than a few spots made me legitimately worry if the ring would break. There were a few spots they didn’t hit cleanly, though it can be excused somewhat because a lot of it had a high difficulty degree. Lee landing on his feet on a monkey flip and Dijak’s springboard corkscrew dives were just some of the standout moments. They both kicked out at one, at different points, to standing ovations. Finally, Lee scored the win after 21:42 to advance to the semi-finals of BOLA. A lot of the appeal of their matches is seeing big dudes do wild shit. Some of that shine wears off after you’ve seen it already, so I do prefer their first Evolve outing, but this was better than their second Evolve match. An absolute spectacle. [****¼]

65. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – NJPW G1 Climax 7/17/17

Two names were announced for the G1 Climax that added intrigue. One was the returning Kota Ibushi and the other was Zack Sabre Jr., in his first G1. His G1 debut itself was even bigger, facing Intercontinental Champion and ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. The daunting task didn’t matter to the brash Brit. For 17:18, he picked Tanahashi apart. Since Tanahashi came in with his arm taped, Sabre made it his target and attacked it mercilessly. The stuff he did looked like it came with relative ease, which was a brilliant way to establish him with unfamiliar fans. This was the guy who could come in and treat the seven-time IWGP Champion like a chump. Tanahashi got something going early, but stopped to taunt and Sabre caught him in another submission. He was just in the driver’s seat from the get go. Tanahashi’s comeback saw him work the leg, as expected. He hit High Fly Flow, but Sabre got his knees up on the second. He trapped Tanahashi in another submission, ripped off his arm tape and made the ace tap out in his G1 debut. It was the perfect way to book Sabre on his first show. There was excellent limb work and top notch selling. The rematch for the IC Title wasn’t as good, but we’ll always have this. [****¼]

64. JML vs. The South Pacific Power Trip – PROGRESS: Orlando 3/31/17

The South Pacific Power Trip have been a highlight on any show they’re on. JML consists of Sami Callihan and Shane Strickland. I love Strickland, Banks and Cooper, while Callihan has been the best I’ve ever seen him as Jeremiah Crane in Lucha Underground this year. This was not for tag team traditionalists. It was a wild 13:12 sprint, featuring big spots and tons of action. I don’t think there was a “legal” man at any point. Everyone got in dives, there was brawling around the ring and stiff kicks throughout. Some of the best spots saw JML hitting a sick double stomp/powerbomb combo and an exchange of kicks involving everyone that came off great. The highlight saw Strickland hit a spider German on Cooper as he hit a superplex on Sami, with Banks coming off instantly after to take him out with a coast to coast dropkick. Incredible action. Banks and Cooper won with an elevated spike DDT, capping arguably the craziest match of WrestleMania weekend. SPPT is one of the best teams in the world because of their versatility and matches like this showed why. [****¼]

63. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi – NJPW G1 Climax 8/1/17

In the G1 Climax two years ago, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi had a banger of a match that saw Tanahashi pick up the victory. This time, Ibushi was in his hometown and had the crowd firmly behind him. That reaction opened the door for heel Tanahashi, which I love. Instead of giving clean breaks, he’d throw in cheap shots. He’d spend time talking smack or stopping to play some air guitar. It was as if he felt Ibushi, who never committed to NJPW, was beneath him. Each time Ibushi got something going, the fans ate it up. Tanahashi targeted the leg and neck, vigorously going after them at every turn. Ibushi finally got going and hit his deadlift German suplex, which looked like it nearly killed Tanahashi. The desperation Ibushi showed when he went for the pin was magnificent. Not only would a win over Tanahashi mean a ton, but a loss would mathematically eliminate Ibushi from the G1. The Last Ride got him a great near fall, before a brutal knee got him the win at 20:40, which set him up for a shot at Tanahashi’s Intercontinental Title a few months later. They told a compelling story to give us one of the better G1 main events. [****¼]

62. Ben-K, Big R Shimizu and Kotoka vs. Eita, Kaito Ishida and Takehiro Yamamura – Dragon Gate Scandal Gate 8/8/17

Since 2007, Dragon Gate ran the Summer Adventure Tag League in the summer. However, that tournament wasn’t always a bright spot. This year, it was replaced with the 5 Unit Survival Race League, where the five major DG factions (Jimmyz, VerserK, Over Generation, Tribe Vanguard and MaxiMuM) competed in a series of matches. The two teams that did the worst would meet and that loser would be forced to disband. This match was part of the tournament, with Over Generation (Eita’s team) against MaxiMuM. Dragon Gate has mastered the multi-man tag and this was the best of the year. Though it only ran 11:53, there was more action than most 30+ minute outings. We got some great callbacks to the awesome Shimizu/Yamamura match from February. An incredible pace saw so many moving parts, yet everything working so fluidly. Eita, a favorite of mine in the company, picked up the win for his guys by making Kotoka tap after a furious final few minutes. The best part was knowing that these hungry young guns were killing it. The oldest guy in the match was a mere 27 years old. The future of Dragon Gate is in great hands. [****¼]

61. AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar – WWE Survivor Series 11/19/17

It’s hard to get excited about Brock Lesnar matches these days. He tends to give little to no effort. So, when AJ Styles won the WWE Title and got put in Jinder Mahal’s place for this match, I was concerned. I expected a short, underwhelming outing. Luckily, Brock decided to bring the effort. He dominated Styles for a big early chunk of this 15:19 match. It was reminiscent of the Brock squashes we’ve gotten in recent years. AJ bumped like a madman, making Brock’s already brutal offense look even better. When AJ started his comeback, it felt earned. It was realistic. He didn’t just power up and turn things around. He continued to sell, while hitting his offense out of desperation. It led to the fans totally biting on a Phenomenal Forearm near fall. AJ went for a second, only to get caught in an F5 that finished him off. The starting run wasn’t exciting, but it did a masterful job in building the sympathy for Styles. Other than a horribly botched DDT spot, everything clicked in this match. I loved it. [****¼]